Now, back to the recap summary of the show. We last left our two remaining contestants in a rush to complete their events to promote the launch of 7UP Retro. Marlee Matlin had the help of Meat Loaf, La Toya Jackson and Richard Hatch. John Rich‘s team was stacked with Lil Jon, Star Jones and Mark McGrath.

Meat Loaf somehow ended up working out the logistics with Jeffrey Holder. Jeffrey showed up to shoot the commercial and was his old charming self — everything went great. John Rich met with Def Leppard’s manager and the band. John started to tell the band about his charity, St. Jude’s which Def Leppard had never heard about?! Weird. Anyway, John was hoping he could win the band over with his passion for the charity. The band seemed unmoved at first, but then agreed to the creative direction John had in mind.

For event set up, Marlee’s team seemed lost and felt that they had no direction as what to do, but somehow, the finished room looked pretty cool. John’s team on the other hand seemed very organized when it came to set up and created a fantastic look and feel for their event space. Mark McGrath even called the display, “breathtaking.” 

Marlee did a fantastic job of meeting Trump and the 7UP execs at her event. She also kept in close contact with them throughout her event. She also did a fantastic job during the presentation part. Her commercial, “feel the love,” however, felt amateurish to me. It was basically La Toya, Meat Loaf, Richard and Marlee playing characters from the 70’s with no backdrop or props. The Harlem Globetrotters put on a great show, but, that was to be expected. Overall, Marlee felt happy with her efforts and said she worked her butt off even though it was worth the money she raised for charity. She said, “John, don’t ever underestimate me. I am the Celebrity Apprentice.”

John on the other hand, kept having people give him money ($275K) for his charity even though this was not a fundraising challenge. He failed in a major way when he did not meet and welcome Trump and the 7Up execs to his event. Their commercial had a story, it was funny, and well made. But John goofed again when he introduced Def Leppard and the band was no where to be found. OOPS! Embarrassing! John introduced them 20 minutes too early! WHAT? ISN’T HE THE MUSICIAN? He should have performance timing down perfectly. Would Trump forgive this major gaffe especially given the fact that John had failed to welcome the big wigs earlier? Only time would tell.

John redeemed himself. He quickly made “lemonade out of lemons,” by grabbing a guitar and singing on stage, “Don’t fire me, don’t fire me, Mr. Trump. There must be someone else you can bump. Cause that girl is kinda crazy and that guy is kinda lazy. So, don’t fire me, don’t fire me, Mr. Trump.” He then gave the crowd an impromptu concert. IMPRESSIVE! This is where Matlin really messed up: Giving John a concert task. Of course John had the right skills to cover up a huge blunder. John then introduced Def Leppard for a second time, and they showed up on cue this time and rocked the stage. What I would have given to be there! John was hoping that all his efforts would land him a win and another check for $250K for his charity.

Trump met with the 7UP execs after the two events were finished and the execs said both celebs had exceeded expectations and that they would hire both of them. Marlee, they said, was an unbelievable salesperson and John a fabulous marketer. They liked the Globetrotters and “feel the love” theme. They loved John’s display. They were disappointed that John did not greet them until after the show and they did not like his timing error with Def Leppard. They disliked the level of signs at Marlee’s event. They liked both cans and both commercials and told Trump he had a tough decision on his hands. The execs like the cans so much that both are available for sale nationwide.

John cleverly blamed the Def Leppard timing faux pax on being “rattled” by having received almost $300K right before that moment. Marlee realizing she was being outfoxed, interrupted, “Wait, wait wait, wait, is this a fundraising task? I don’t understand.” Donald said it was not a fundraising task and although he could not give John credit for that, he admitted that maybe deep down inside he actually was. Marlee, who had previously failed on a fundraising task after having admitted she had tapped out her friends, said she could have raised double what John raised if this was a fundraising task. Ivanka said, “The point is, John went above and beyond cause he could and because it was the final task.”

We now cut to the live boardroom and the entire cast came in with two exceptions: David Cassidy, Lisa Rinna, Nikki Taylor, Hope Dworaczyk, Lil Jon, La Toya Jackson, Star Jones, Meat Loaf, Gary Busey and NeNe Leakes. Richard Hatch was not there because he is serving time again for tax evasion (Read the story here.) No mention was made as to why Dionne Warwick was absent.

David Cassidy who did not get along with Richard on the show was all too giddy about the latest outcome on Richard’s legal troubles. Remember, Hatch called Cassidy “little people” which terribly offended Cassidy as it should have. Cassidy told Trump: “I think he actually is in the right place at the right time. I honestly think when you take the low road, where else would you end up but on a cold slab somewhere and quite frankly, I think it was just. I thought it was vindication. And I told you Trump, everyone told you to fire Hatch instead of me.”

Rinna blamed Star Jones for her short-lived stint on the show and Jones responded, “It’s a game, Mr. Trump. Bring your A game!”

Trump then turned his sights on Gary Busey – the clips of his old tactics reminded me of how crazy this man really is. Crazy as a fox? I can’t tell. Remember some of the gems he’s said: “There are two things you never want to do: One is pet a burning dog and the other is fry bacon naked.” Trump asked him if he liked Meat Loaf and upon saying yes, Gary and Meat Loaf hugged it out. Meat Loaf then said he understands Gary because he had “some head trauma” and Meat Loaf himself has had “18 concussions and a fractured skull.”

Trump told Lil Jon he’s become even more likable and popular since the show. Agreed. Lil Jon said, “Gary came out to hang with me in Vegas. Gary is good people.” When asked how he liked being on Celebrity Apprentice, Lil Jon said he liked it but he wouldn’t do it again because “it’s very hard.”

Trump called NeNe “original” just like 7UP. And of course NeNe was all smiles. Once they showed the clips of NeNe, she seemed somewhat embarrassed to me. She told Donald she does not regret leaving (quitting really, read the full story here) because she did what was best for her at the time. She said “Star bothered me a lot….I am absolutely OK now, I don’t hold grudges. That’s just not who I am. I was very honest in the things I said [about Starr] and  I stand by them.” Star responded, “Well, I had an amazing time on the show… but I was a little disheartened as I watched the episodes unfold [on TV] throughout the season to see that NeNe used this amazing platform to attack every single black woman on the show…” NeNe interrupted and said, “Let’s not go there with ‘black,’ it’s not about a racial thing…you used this platform to be very backstabbing and very manipulative.” As NeNe was talking, Star talked over her, “Tonight is about John and Marlee.” Trump stopped them. Star said, “Excuse me, I’d like to actually finish my statement tonight. Tonight, I’d like to say as a professional woman I was embarrassed as were so many professional women around the country.” Yes, Star, I too was embarrassed. But not just by NeNe’s conduct, but yours as well. 

Donald turned to La Toya who cutely giggled. I love her. Trump said, “NeNe really went after you…called you Casper the Ghost and yet for some reason you seem to really like NeNe but not Star, why is that?” La Toya responded, “I truly believed and I knew Star was using NeNe as her mouthpiece. Star was really manipulating everything that was going on. NeNe didn’t realize she was being used…When I showed NeNe, she said, ‘you are right.’ She caught on to it. NeNe deep down inside when I got to know her, she has a really good heart, and I forgave her.”

Marlee looked gorgeous. And John looked like a handsome cowboy. Loved his move of bringing Donald a cowboy hat. And it suited The Donald. When Trump asked the fired cast who they wanted to see win, Meat Loaf and NeNe said they liked both. Star said the $275K John raised last minute should get John the win. Lil Jon of course picked his buddy John. La Toya also picked John because he executed himself well. David Cassidy picked Marlee. McGrath put it best: “Marlee had the best week ever in Celebrity Apprentice history; John had the best season ever on Celebrity Apprentice history.” Trump didn’t even bother asking Hope, Gary, Lisa or Nikki.

John and Marlee then sang a moving song About The Children. And then it came time to choose a winner. When Donald asked for a raising of hands of who should win, Hope, Mark, Nikki, Lisa, Meat Loaf, Star, La Toya and Lil Jon raised their hands for John to win. “That’s surprising,” said The Donald. Then he asked who thinks Marlee should win, Nikki, Lisa, David and Gary  raised their hands. Lisa and Nikki giggled since they raised their hands for both candidates. NeNe did not raise her hand for anyone. Lisa defended herself because both were deserving.

AND THE WINNER IS….

Marlee said she should be picked as the winner because her charity is her life. She said she has always faced and beat barriers in her life and that she, like Trump, never takes no for an answer. She also said she worked her butt off to win no matter what it took. And she also mentioned she’s raised the most money in a single day.

John said he should win because his charity literally saves the lives of kids. And he said there was not one thing he did not exhaust all season. He listed his wins as: Raising over $1million, brining Nikki Taylor back to help the men’s team, getting Twisted Sister, and serving as project manager more than anyone else this season. He said his “body of work” over the entire season was superior to that of Marlee’s. Marlee disagreed because John did not see Marlee at work.

When it was all said and done, The Donald said this was his toughest decision ever but picked John Rich as the winner and his Celebrity Apprentice. He said from the beginning John has been a leader, strong, sharp and smart, and he could not ask anything more of him.

Here is a great video clip recap of the episode. I will post the full episode shortly as well: